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Whiplash reforms update

Tue, 15/11/2016 - 11:21am -- Guest

With perhaps bigger fish to fry the post EU referendum government has indicated its intentions a few months ago to scrap planned reforms of the whiplash personal injury claim process. However an announcement last week confirmed that after intense lobbying by the insurers, the reforms are now very much back on the agenda. This is terrible news for accident victims.

Much lamented as more of a money spinner than a genuine legal claim, the area around whiplash injury claims has taken a bashing in the press in recent years. However those that work in the legal industry will tell you that whiplash injuries are indeed serious and deblitating for many. The planned reforms will reduce the scope of damages and associated legal fees to such low levels that many law firms would be unable to take on such cases, leaving accident victims to take on the insurers without representation or advice. This would help only the insurers who continue to make money on ever increasing premiums despite rapidly falling claim costs.

The UK motorist has seen very little if any of the benefit from an already dramatically downsized personal injury sector. The whiplash reforms will hurt only the injured and the less well off who cannot afford to pay for legal assistance.